{"id":989,"date":"2011-03-31T17:05:14","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T21:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/?p=989"},"modified":"2011-04-20T17:10:15","modified_gmt":"2011-04-20T21:10:15","slug":"following-spring%e2%80%99s-flowering-sequence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/2011\/03\/following-spring%e2%80%99s-flowering-sequence\/","title":{"rendered":"Following spring\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flowering sequence"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_17035\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/?attachment_id=17035\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17035\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17035\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Southern-sugar-maple-flowers1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Southern-sugar-maple-flowers1\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17035\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17035\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Pendulous green flowers of Southern sugar maple are worth a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccloser look.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>By Ken Moore<br \/>\n<em>Flora Columnist<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Driving along the bypass last week, I remarked that the beautiful, but deadly, Chinese wisteria is flowering early this year. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t miss the walls of pale violet flower clusters hanging from trees being strangled by the notorious invasive.<\/p>\n<p>My driving companion, Kathy, responded: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what you say every year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s correct. Every year I expound that the flowering of one or another plant is not in its normal flowering sequence. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m beginning to suspect that the reality in our area is that every year the sequence of spring flowers is atypical.<\/p>\n<p>But really, think about it: This year you have to agree that the wisteria is ahead of schedule. <\/p>\n<p>This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s earlier-than-usual flowering of dogwoods assures me that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not off track. The trees are beginning to peak ahead of schedule. For the past four decades I have firmly repeated the seasoned observation of Dr. Ritchie Bell, the N.C. Botanical Garden\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first director: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For planning purposes, the peak flowering of dogwoods is the 10th of April.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For years weddings and other special occasions have been planned around that date. This year, however, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to move your plans up 10 days if you want to catch the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153peak.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in one of those special years when the white-flowered dogwoods come on early enough to overlap with the peak of the pink-flowered redbuds.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to noticing differences in flowering sequences, every year I surprise myself by becoming aware of a seasonal re-awakening that, though so obvious, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve not appreciated before.<\/p>\n<p>This year, for me, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the yellow-green flowering Southern sugar maple, <em>Acer barbatum<\/em>, which is abundant in our region. The specimen in my yard is filled with hanging flower clusters; the lower branches offer in-your-face closer looks at beauty so often missed. I have a weakness for little green flowers and these pendulous maple flowers are well worth a lingering appreciation.<\/p>\n<p>These trees add a lovely pastel yellow-green touch to our Carrboro street-side landscapes. In a few spots you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll notice the yellow-green flowers juxtaposed against the red colors of the winged samaras (seed) of the earlier flowering red maple, <em>Acer rubrum<\/em>. You may recall observing, several weeks ago, curious little red flowers on the bare branches of red maples; red maples are more noticeable now that the winged seeds are reaching maturity. In the next few weeks you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see these red winged seeds spiraling down to blanket yards and pavements beneath our feet. In contrast, the Southern sugar maple will hold its pairs of winged seeds until late summer and fall.<\/p>\n<p>The yellow-green Southern sugar maples were very noticeable last week. Now they are being obscured by all the other forest canopy trees that are beginning to leaf out. This full awakening of the forest trees is also a bit early. I always think it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be until after the second full week of April passes that the big canopy trees fully shade our yards and the forest floor. This year I predict that phenomenon will occur at least a week earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Keep your eyes on the trees and on the calendar. You be the judge about this spring\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sequence!<\/p>\n<p><em>Email Ken Moore at flora@carrborocitizen.com.<\/em><br \/>\nRead more Ken Moore <em>Citizen<\/em> columns at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/\">The Annotated Flora<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17034\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/?attachment_id=17034\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17034\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17034\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/Southern-sugar-and-red-maples1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Southern-sugar-and-red-maples1\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17034\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-17034\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Yellow-green flowered Southern sugar maple (in front) contrasts with the red seeds of red maple (behind).<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ken Moore Flora Columnist Driving along the bypass last week, I remarked that the beautiful, but deadly, Chinese wisteria is flowering early this year. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t miss the walls of pale violet flower clusters hanging from trees being strangled by the notorious invasive. My driving companion, Kathy, responded: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what you say every year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,19],"tags":[132,201,7,729,236,730,81],"class_list":["post-989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ken-moores-flora","category-spring","tag-acer-barbatum","tag-acer-rubrum","tag-dogwood","tag-maple","tag-redbud","tag-samara","tag-wisteria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":991,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989\/revisions\/991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}